The scope of the arthroscopic surgeries that Dr. Bill Stetson performs these days goes much further than taking care of a local high school athlete who might have been referred to his Burbank office with a sore shoulder.

This week, Stetson and his wife, Erica, prepare for another trip to Cuba with a non-profit group they’ve started called Operation Arthroscopy, helping to train doctors in third-world countries on arthroscopic procedures as well as donate equipment and supplies to their hospitals that have been collected locally over the past year.

They leave Saturday and return after Easter, their sixth trip to the island, this time with enough volunteers to break into three groups to assist in their mission.

For Stetson, an All-American volleyball player at USC nearly 30years ago, the intent might have started as a Doctors Beyond Borders-sort of way to share information and procedures with those in need. But the personal connections he has made over the years reinforces that these excursions are paying off in more ways than he could have imagined.

“We start with a box of equipment and do a few simple lectures and a couple of surgeries, and before you know it, you just fall in love with the people there and you really can’t turn your back on them,” said the 49-year-old Stetson.

His talents might have seemed destined to shine in the athletic field – he was a four-year standout at USC from 1979-82 and the All-America captain his senior season. But other awards he won – including USC’s Most Outstanding Senior Student- Athlete and the Pac-10’s Most Outstanding Scholar-Athlete – made it obvious he was destined for much more. Twoyears ago, he was bestowed with the NCAA’s Silver Anniversary award for achievement in his post-athletic career.

Missing out on making the U.S. Olympic team in ’84 led Stetson to finally decide to launch a pursuit of a medical degree – after a stop to play professionally in West Germany, and in some 4-on-4 beach tournaments.

Stetson’s father was a long-time physician and team trainer to many high schools in the South Bay, and it was the field that he, the youngest of nine in his family, was easily drawn to.

While coaching a 16-and-under girls’ volleyball team in St. Louis, where he was doing residency in the late ’90s, Stetson started going to Haiti with the father of a player on his squad who also was an orthopedic surgeon.

After moving back to L.A. to start a practice in 1998, Stetson was invited to Cuba for the first time with Dr. John Feagin in ’04. The project was launched with five volunteers. It has grown to where dozens now partake in the missions, including Stetson’s Burbank partner, Dr. Scott Powell, and three nurses from his office.

“The purpose is really to help the people like the farmer who can’t raise his arm above his head, the taxi-cab driver who has a rotator-cuff tear, the mother with the `frozen shoulder,”‘ Stetson said. “We’re not taking care of the elite by any means.”

The first trip to Cuba in ’04 was arranged at an international medical conference attended by Dr. Tony Castro – an orthopedic surgeon who happened to be the son of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. At the end of that trip, there was a surprise meeting with the communist leader one night. Castro not only thanked them for their visit but spoke – in Spanish, with son Tony translating – of his interest in sports, medicine and agriculture.

“Eventually, it was 5 a.m. and he was handing us a box of cigars and a bottle of rum,” Stetson said. “He was so charming and animated. You can see why he’s been in power so long.”

Long term, Stetson’s Operation Arthroscopy has goals to venture beyond Cuba. This fall, Bill and Erica Stetson plan a similar trip to Bangladesh. A friend has set up a venture in Peru. There’s a journey in the works to visit another doctor in Vietnam.

Stetson has plenty of work at home, as the team physician to high schools such as Glendale, Burbank, Hoover, Crescenta Valley and Village Christian.

He’s also a consultant to the U.S. men’s Olympic volleyball team. With two young children in the house, he also has plenty of dad duties.

In the bigger picture, one that started in sports, Stetson knows where to hang his hat.

“I was never fooling myself into thinking I was going to be 6-foot-4 with a 45-inch vertical leap like Karch Kiraly,” Stetson said. “But I wanted to take that career as far as possible until I started to become a doctor.

“I had goals in mind and knew what I wanted to do. I may have been delayed a couple of times, but until I extinguished that (volleyball) desire, I could never give it up.

“This is where I’m supposed to be. And it’s really been quite an adventure.”

Tom Hoffarth is a freelancer. He had been with the Daily News/Southern California News Group since 1992 as a general assignment sports reporter, columnist and specialist in the sports media. He has been honored by the Associated Press for sports columnists and honored by the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Association for his career work. His favorite sportscaster of all time: Vin Scully, for professional and personal reasons. He considers watching Zenyatta win the Breeders' Cup 2009 Classic to be the most memorable sporting event he has covered in his career. Go figure that.